Patch Notes Version 330.2
Bug Fixes

*Fixed an issue where Maria was T-posing menacingly.

*Fixed an issue where a paragraph was showing incorrect information.

*Several other bugs fixes

Possible unstable performance fixes

*In some PC versions, Ray Tracing may be unintentionally enabled and cause unstable performance. Please check the Ray Tracing setting in the "System" "Graphics " "Ray Tracing Quality" from the title screen or in-game menu.

*In the Playfield Personal version, the message "Inappropriate activity detected" may appear without cheating. To fix this issue, please verify the integrity of the game's files before restarting the game.

*In the Nerv Gear version, unstable framerate may be caused by third party applications built on the SAO code. Deactivating these third party applications may improve performance.

Maria finished her inspection, nodding in satisfaction. Fortunately, despite the furious violence of the brief encounter, the smuggler's wagon had not been damaged.

The same could not be said of the smugglers, but that had been the point of the exercise.

When she had attacked, others had followed her in her wake, either simply taking her cue, or wishing to keep the smugglers from betraying their position. It would have been a truly one-sided violent gank if everyone had joined in, but fortunately the knights with her were capable. Those ridings horses had spread out, blocking off avenues of escape while others had followed after Maria, and those in the rear had turned around to keep watch in case the sounds of fighting attracted ogres, giant crabs, any kind of basilisks, wild boars, bears, giant tree spiders, and anything else in the woods that might try to kill them.

Maria had barely had time to order that the smugglers be taken alive if possible before she was diving among them, saber and shortsword slicing off arms and legs, and the others followed her into the melee. The smugglers had tried to run, tried to fight, and hadn't done very well at either.

Two of the smugglers died, as expected, but the rest were sufficiently disarmed and dislegged that they had surrendered after medical aid was offered. Maria had healed them, of course, while the who had died had been tied up in case they somehow came back to life. Thankfully, Katarina had been spared the sight. She'd ordered her squire to stay in the carriage and protect the wards they'd brought along. Her wards, thankfully, had understood what that order meant.

One of the smugglers they managed to capture was the leader, though there had been nothing special to mark him so. While he had been wearing the same rough but serviceable clothes as the other smugglers, when Maria had attacked he had stood and given orders, then immediately tried to run. That had seemed a good indicator he did little actual labor and thus led instead. The escape had immediately been cut off, and he'd been dragged back, one shoulder wounded from the sword that the mounted knight had used to incapacitate them.

The four survivors had been enthusiastically dragged into a line. While one still looked defiant, the others looked utterly terrified.

"P-please, have mercy!"

"I'll tell you everything I know, just please spare me!"

"We can make a deal!"

That last had come from the mouth of the one Maria suspected of being the leader. It made her smile as she walked up to him ad knelt slightly so she could meet his eyes. "Do you really mean that?" she said, still smiling.

The smuggler latched onto her words eagerly, even as all the others clamored for her attention. "Yes, yes!" he cried. "I have souls! Lots of souls. We can—"

Maria grabbed his collar and stood, pulling him up and then lifting him as she reached her not-exactly-considerable height. "Very well, then. Here's our deal. You will guide us through the smuggling trail into La Sable. In return, you will not be summarily executed for being a slaver. Do we have an accord?"

The man hesitated, his eyes narrowing—

Maria shrugged and drew her sword again. "I'll take that as a 'no' then," she said, drawing back her sword and aiming it at his neck—

"W-wait! I'll do it, I'll do it!" the smuggler cried, as the others clamored louder.

Maria titled her head. "Hmm… Do you actually know the way? Perhaps you're merely lying to preserve your own life? I should ask someone else—"

"No, no, I know the way, I know the way!" the smuggler cried.

"Convince me."

"Hey, hey, there's no need for that."

Maria held still, even as he turned a contemptuous look towards the man who had spoken. With long blue hair pulled back in a tail, the man had a reconciliatory smile on his face. "This has nothing to do with you, Smith," she said coldly. "The man needs to prove he is of any value to us."

"How can he, if you don't give him time?" Sora Smith of the Magic Tool Laboratory, their fourth guide through the smuggling routes, said, a placating, butler-like smile on his face. "Let him down and let me speak to him. I'm sure that with a little convincing he'll be more than helpful."

A dismissive snort. "And leave him in your weak hands?"

"Well, at least put him down," Sora said. "How do you expect him to answer you properly if you hold him like that?"

Maria glared but let the smuggler's feet touch the ground. "He has still not convinced me," she said.

Stepping closer, Sora put a congenial hand of the man's shoulder. "Well, if you let him calm down, I'm sure he can tell you everything you want to know. Right, friend?"

"Y-yeah! Whatever you need, my lady!"

Abyssal dark smoke began to rise from where Sora's hand rested, and Maria repressed a nod of satisfaction.

After all, she was authorized to utilize Dark Magic. That didn't mean it was limited to simply her own.

With Sora handling manipulating the smuggler, Maria moved on to overseeing other matters. The slaves—consisting of two Gerudo, four Xiarmen, three Ethenelli and three Ashinajin women and girls almost but not quite on the cusp of womanhood—were freed from the cages as the few Water Magic wielders they had prepared water to get them cleaned up of the filth covering the—thankfully they were not covered in their own dungpies, as the slavers were in far too close proximity to ignore that—while the Earth Magic wielders raised stone walls to give them privacy as they did so. Some of the Xiarmen and Ethenelli came forward to comfort their abducted countrywomen, who began crying hysterically at realizing they were, in fact, free.

However, the sound of women crying drew the attention of her squire, who seemed to think that meant it was safe to come out of the carriage. Katarina followed the sound the way she would normally follow the smell of food, completely oblivious to the blood and occasional dismembered limb that Katarina hastily kicked aside into the bushes as the squire headed straight towards the sounds of people in distress. Despite Maria's best attempts to inform them that they were now safe in her limited Ashinago and Gerudosa, the women and children had simply cried louder.

Katarina simply showed up in her white and blue armor, began speaking to them, and suddenly they were all clustered around her. Their cries changed into what was visibly relief as her squire knelt down to hold them, heedless of the stains getting on her clean armor. And while Katarina didn't seem to know more Gerudosa than Maria did, she seemed perfectly capable of comforting the dark-skinned women and children in question. Once the area had been reasonably secured, Sadako, Kaede and Suzuka had been able to assist. The three Ashina women knew enough Gerudosa to be able to act as intermediaries with the dark-skinned women, and the other women from their homeland had been greatly comforted by their presence, finally allowing Maria to given them a cursory examination and heal them with her Light Magic. A few of the children had been coughing, and there had been those among the women who had walked in a pained fashion.

There weren't many spare clothes to go around, but what was available was relinquished. Shirts, blouses, tunics ("Wait, that's a tunic?" Katarina said. "I thought that was a nightgown for men!" "Sometimes, my squire."), and spare robes were given to the women and children to replace the soiled near-rags they had for clothing, along with what cloth could be spared to give them footwear. While there was some surplus clothing, there are rarely surplus shoes, at least until someone had the bright idea of taking the slavers'. A few of the knights grumbled about the delay instead of continuing to travel for the rest of the day and the distraction from their mission but didn't really protest. Either they understood the sentiment or simply understood that insisting on leaving the women behind would not be a popular idea.

The group made camp that night, moving off the road in case another group of smugglers or a patrol passed by. The slavers were all crammed into one of the cages of the wagons, which was actually less cramped for them than it had been for the women, so some creative Dark Soul decided to tie their hands to the top of the cage, forcing them to stand pressed up against each other. A few of the freed women had proceeded to torment their former captors by poking at them with sticks, but one of the Xiarmen had quickly put a stop to that. The women had instead been given rocks to throw so that that there was less risk of one of them getting pulled in close and taken hostage.

As to the freed slaves, there had been a fierce debate as to what would be done with them. While no one brought up the idea of simply leaving them behind—the Xiarmen and Ethenelli wouldn't stand for it, and due to the selection criteria for this group, most of the knights present agreed—the choice hovered in the air, unspoken. What had been said was that perhaps they could be escorted to a nearby town to await the knight's return, as the knights were going into great danger. That had been proposed reluctantly, as everyone knew that they needed every knight to have a chance of accomplishing their mission. On the other hand, trying to bring them along would be an enormous liability. While they probably had enough supplies for them, the women and children might potentially slow them down, and could threaten their ability to move stealthily. Those who were proponents of bringing the women along suggested that they could confirm the route that the slaver would be leading them through, a point that swayed some people into tentative agreement.

And all turned towards Maria for a decision.

She decided.

That night, the cage was discretely emptied.

The next day, the knights continued on to La Sable. The once-leader of the slavers was driving the lead wagon so he could point out the way as Sora sat affably by his side. The Dark Magic wielder had said he could just barely keep control of the man—he apparently had a stronger will than Lady Berg, at least back when she had not been as close to Prince Ian—but apparently the utter terror Maria inspired in the mad was enough to tip the scales. Maria had tried to see if she could help using her own more powerful Dark Magic, but they didn't exactly have time for a lesson. She made sure to pass through the slaver's line of sight every so often and stare at him, which Sora confirmed help make the man more pliable. The terror of Maria weakened his will, and the small comfort he drew from Sora playing Solaire were the seeds of emotion the Dark Magic wielder needed to manipulate the man.

This was helped by the fact that Maria was sitting on the wagon behind the two of them, atop the cage. While it was a precarious perch, she was able to keep her balance. Behind the wagon was her carriage, with Katarina and the Ashina women—Maria hadn't gotten their names, but she had no doubt that Katarina not only already knew, she was aware of their favorite food, the names of their parents, and where they had been born—were sitting in the open air and sunlight, basking in the lack of bars around them.

All around, the other former slaves were the same, not wishing to be confined within the carriages. Some where walking alongside, and the children were running and laughing under the careful eye of the mounted knights. As dangerous as their destination was, they needed the women to confirm the way through the smuggler's route. According to the leader of the slavers, the path they would be taking to avoid the patrols on both side of the border would take two days, ending near a small farming village actually fairly deep behind La Sable's border. While they freed women couldn't confirm the name, they did corroborate the village. One of the Xiarmen women had said through an interpreter that the slavers hadn't even hidden them, instead just passing through without comment. A young boy had actually spoken to the slavers about buying one of them, hopefully brandishing a handful of coins as he tried to buy someone to do his chores for him.

Maria reminded herself she had orders to not commit atrocities upon civilians. Although… technically the king's orders had been not to commit atrocities among the innocent. Surely this didn't count…?

It was a philosophical question she pondered intensely as the caravan train of knights snuck stealthily into La Sable.

Rafael looked at the noblemen and women arrayed around him with a flat expression, and recalled that while the influence of the Dark Spirit that had possessed him had no doubt greatly influenced his initial perception of them, that dead man actually had a point. These nobles were really hexing annoying, especially when it came to Katarina. Even, he was ashamed to say, his good friend Nicol. Rafael thought his friend had a good thing going with Lady Carim, a charming young woman who could actually carry a conversation with Nicol without fainting.

"You're all being silly," he said instead, the most polite way he could put the sentiments he was thinking. "Maria has made it clear all this time that she does not in any way regard Lady Katarina in a way that could vaguely be construed as romantic, much less Mary-like—"

"Hey!" Mary exclaimed, while the Third Prince and Sophia actually let out small laughs and poor Alan looked confused.

"—so I have to wonder what made you come to the big hat-brained conclusion that she has kidnapped Lady Katarina for nefarious purposes."

"Besides the fact neither of them can actually be found?" the Third Prince said.

"Given we're about to go to war, I'd hope that whatever people you're using can't find them because they're taking the initiative to search for possible actual threats to the kingdom," Rafael said flatly.

"Aren't you worried at all that your fiancée has run off with another woman?" Sophia said. "Because that kind of negligent, uncaring attitude is what leads to women running off to find someone more caring! I see it all the time… in romance novels!"

"Sophia, if I worry about other women, it's because I'm terrified they're going to kill me to try and take my place," Rafael said. "As for worrying about Maria running off with Katarina…" He rolled his eyes. "The one time she thought she might be developing feelings for Katarina similar to yours, she was utterly terrified."

"Terrified?" Keith said.

"Yes. She didn't want to go insane, after all. Fortunately, I was able to reassure her."

Sophia snorted. "What did you do, kiss the feelings out of her?"

"…yes, exactly," Rafael said beatifically. "So in summary: no, I do not know where my fiancée is, but as I trust her as well as love her, I am not particularly concerned. As such, I will not be involving myself in whatever silliness you all intend to embark upon, because I'm a responsible adult with a job to do." He met the two prince's gaze. "Will that be all, your Highnesses? I have things to attend to."

The Third Prince looked frustrated, while Alan looked troubled. "Well… I suppose if you intend to be unhelpful, then there is no use taking any more of your time, Vice-Director Walt. By all means, continue on your way."

Rafael abruptly smiled. "Oh, how nice. You wouldn't believe how many people get my title wrong." Smoothly, he began to walk around them, then paused. "Have you asked Anne? If anyone would make it their business to know where Katarina is, it would be her."

"She's gone too," Alan said. "We can't find her anywhere."

"Well, isn't that a point against your idea that Maria absconded with Katarina with Mary-like intentions?"

"Hey!"

"After all, if she was going to… ah, Sophia, perhaps you have a tasteful turn of phrase to describe it?"

"Get on with it," Sophia said coldly.

"Thank you. If Maria was getting on with it with Katarina, why would she possibly want to bring along her mother's lover? That would just be all sorts of awkward. No, if Anne is with them, and where else could she be if you can't find her, then I doubt anything Mary-like is going—"

That was as far as Rafael got before he started running to get away from a very annoyed totally-not-a-Marchioness.

"Ooooh…" Alice sang, "sweet mystery of life, at last I've found you…!"

"Ooooh, I know at last the secret of it all…!" Anne sang back.